They protest against the arrest of five FTII students and saffronisation of education.
Students and Alumni of Mumbai University staged a protest demonstration to oppose police repression on the Students of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Pune at Kalina University Campus. They also targeted the Modi Government and RSS. The FTII students have been protesting against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the chairperson of the prestigious institute. According to them Chauhan lacks skills and expertise to manage the FTII and he has been appointed due to his political connections with the BJP. Gajendra Chauhan is known for his role of Yudhishtira in the TV epic Mahabharata. The government has been trying to suppress the students protest by arresting senior students. Even Congress vice-President Rahul Gandhi had supported the protests. Students also have criticised the government for trying to influence its agenda over educational institutions.
According to Narayan Karade member of University Committee for Democracy and Equality (UCDE), “The BJP and RSS are throwing their weight around unnecessarily on art and film- making the way fascists’ hegemonies take place. We are demanding the resignation of five people including Gajendra Chauhan. The other four being Narendra Pathak who derailed the working of the institution and now has been appointed as a member of the Committee. The other two namely Shailesh Gupta and Anagha Ghaisas whose only qualifications are that they have both made a film on Narendra Modi and Rahul Solpurkur who is an RSS and BJP member.”
“Besides this they stirred an agitation because the new syllabus which was renewed in 2008 and meant for 3 yrs is so long that the students say it’s actually lengthy enough for four and a half years. So many students have stayed back in the campus to complete it. There is also only one studio in the whole institution. The director Prashant Prathbe said that he would only assess the complete projects and the rest of them were stranded. They were caught at midnight illegally for creating this stir and even the court now has dismissed it. The teachers are also supporting the students” he added.
Virat Chowdhary another member of UCDE said, “The arena of art and culture has always remained one of the prime targets of the Barbarians. Attacks on art take myriad forms; one of them is to destroy works of art, statues, films, books, etc. The other and more effective way to attack art is to put people like Gajendra Chauhan at the top of premiere institutions of art and culture.”
“The Fascist forces in power want to hand over the leadership of such an institute to a C grade “actor”. However, the struggle of our young friends of FTII has instilled young artists of entire country with inspiration and enthusiasm. We, the students of Mumbai University also have fought and are fighting against the Fascist forces at every step and we have learnt a lot from your struggle” he added.
The FTII has given the nation numerous progressive and democratic film-makers. Their work of art has introduced a number of generations to human essence.
Pushkar Sarad another member of UCDE said, “First they changed the NCERT curriculum, then destroyed Indian Council of Historical Research and other research institutions and now they have fixed their eyes on FTII! The reason for this is the fact that history is their enemy as it exposes their entire geneology, and true art also is their nemesis as it represents human essence, that is, every refined and beautiful thing that humanity has produced. That is the reason why Fascists all over the world attack artists, try to hegemonize institutions of art and culture, murder musicians and imprison film-makers.”
“You too understand that our fight cannot be limited to one institution or research council. Today, FTII is their prime target, tomorrow it will be the art academies and the day after it will be every museum, art gallery, university and music institutes!” he added.
